ON THE HIGH SEAS. 171 



complete control over them during the voyage. The master 

 of the ship and the owners signed a Charter-party whereby the 

 master was bound to hand over the convicts in safety to the 

 Governor at the end of the voyage and was liable to heavy 

 penalties if he did not. He was also bound by Instructions 

 from the Board to fit up the ship in particular ways for the 

 reception of the convicts, to allow them on deck as much as 

 possible, and to note in his log-books all that happened on the 

 voyage. The log-book was submitted to the Governor's inspec- 

 tion at Sydney, and if he was satisfied that the master had 

 carried out his contract satisfactorily, treating the convicts fairly, 

 serving out their rations regularly and in the right amounts, 

 he gave him a certificate to that effect. If no certificate were 

 given, or if the Governor gave a bad report of the master's 

 behaviour, he might be prosecuted in England or lose part of 

 the payment for his services. If the certificate were in order, 

 however, he received an honorarium from the Treasury. The 

 owner or master of the transport was under the further obliga- 

 tion of providing a surgeon, whose duty it was to care for the 

 health of the prisoners, and to keep a full and particular diary 

 of the voyage. This diary also was submitted to the Governor, 

 who might, if he felt any suspicion of its genuineness, require 

 the surgeon to make an oath on the subject. 1 



The duty of the surgeon was to keep the convicts in good 

 health just as that of the master was to keep them " safe," and 

 the surgeon received a reward if the Governor's certificate was 

 satisfactory. 2 It was, of course, a very difficult thing to decide 

 whether illness on board was or was not the fault of the surgeon. 

 On the General Hewitt there was an outbreak of fever and 

 great mortality, 3 but Macquarie, after an inquiry held in Sydney, 

 did not consider himself justified in withholding the surgeon's 

 certificate. The Home Office, however, refused to recommend 

 him for a gratuity to the Treasury, and the Under-Secretary 

 wrote to Goulburn asking that Macquarie should be more strict 

 in future. 4 In 1815 a change was made and the Government 



1 See later for effect of this clause in the Instructions. 



2 See Instructions to Masters and Surgeons from Transport Board, issued in 

 February, 1812. See C. on T., Appendix. 



8 More than forty died and sixteen were landed ill. 



4 See Beckett to Goulburn, igth December, 1815. R.O., MS. 



